/*
 * Copyright (C) 2008 GeoScheduler Team, as stated on <http://www.geoscheduler.org/authors>.
 * 
 * This file is part of GeoScheduler.
 * 
 * GeoScheduler is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 * it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
 * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
 * (at your option) any later version.
 * 
 * GeoScheduler is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 * GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
 * 
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
 * along with GeoScheduler. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 */
package org.geoscheduler.security.authenticate;

import org.geoscheduler.exceptions.GSAuthenticationException;
import org.geoscheduler.model.Account;
import org.geoscheduler.model.Account.AccountType;

/**
 * Interface for authentication services.
 * 
 * It indicates what kind of {@link Account} is given implementation applicable and
 * (more importantly) provides method for checking given account's credentials. 
 *
 * @author srakyi
 */
public interface Authenticator {
	
	/**
	 * Returns {@link AccountType} this authenticator is applicable on.
	 * 
	 * @return	{@link AccountType} type of account.
	 */
	public AccountType getApplicableTo();
	
	/**
	 * Checks credentials on given {@link Account}.
	 * 
	 * @param account	Account to be checked.
	 * 
	 * @return	True in case of success, otherwise false.
	 */
	public boolean checkCredentials(Account account) throws GSAuthenticationException;
	
}
